I agree... it's interesting though that it is listed as light rail. I'm not aware of any ROWs that the MTA owns through the Sepulveda Pass so I'm not sure where they would put the rails. Maybe have it run elevated over the freeway?

yeah, i don't understand why they wouldn't just consider the higher capacity of hrt straightaway. also, a good length of that corridor will be without stops, optimizing the benefit of hrt's higher speed, and the possibility of extending noho westward to intercept it in the valley.

Metro Board To Face Off With Beverly Hills Officials Over ‘Subway To The Sea’ Expansion

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors will hold a meeting Thursday, at the request of Beverly Hills city and school officials, to review their objections to a subway tunnel under Beverly
Hills High School that would allow trains to reach Century City.

Last month, the board approved a roughly 3.9-mile extension of the so-called “Subway to the Sea,” from Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue to La Cienega Boulevard and Wilshire. Officials delayed action on the next two segments of the $5.6 billion extension so it can consider Beverly Hills’ objections.

Did you know there is a plan to develop the West Santa Ana Branch of the old Pacific Electric corridor into a public transit line with a projected ridership of 80,000 passengers a day? The Downey Beat reports that a planning effort, led by the Southern California Association of Governments, has produced an Initial Executive Summary for a Alternatives Analysis Report (pdf) for the long-stewing plans (they've been floating around since 2002). The Executive Summary lays out a pretty large variety of options--everything from a no-build alternative to streetcars, light rail, and Maglev train (sorry, no gondolas). The report also analyzes differences in cost and ridership among several alternative routes along what is currently called the Orange Line (yes, that name is already taken)--the most robust possibilities for the line would extend along the Pacific Electric right of way (PEROW) between Union Station and Santa Ana. The Executive Summary makes a case that the PEROW has the elements necessary for a rail line: the projected ridership of the line exceeds the capacity for a Bus Rapid Transit System by two or two and a half times, with the light rail alternative achieving the highest ridership. The projected ridership of the light rail line would be more than 80,000--that's more than the 64,000 daily riders expected to use the Expo Line when it reaches Santa Monica.

1. The portion in the old Pacific Electric Santa Ana Branch ROW looks great, but the portion between there and Union Station does a pretty terrible job of going anywhere near where people actually live or work. Am I wrong about this?

2. Within Santa Ana, why on earth would they only study using a DIFFERENT route from the so called "Santa Ana Garden Grove Fixed Guideway" rather than using the SAME route and using compatible modes and vehicles, especially given that the route down Santa Ana Blvd seems like such a no brainer as far as density, destinations, and walkability is concerned?

1. The portion in the old Pacific Electric Santa Ana Branch ROW looks great, but the portion between there and Union Station does a pretty terrible job of going anywhere near where people actually live or work. Am I wrong about this?

2. Within Santa Ana, why on earth would they only study using a DIFFERENT route from the so called "Santa Ana Garden Grove Fixed Guideway" rather than using the SAME route and using compatible modes and vehicles, especially given that the route down Santa Ana Blvd seems like such a no brainer as far as density, destinations, and walkability is concerned?

I don't know if you clicked on the link, but there were numerous maps showing various routings. I just selected a couple of them for posting here. Maybe one of the various alternatives more closely fits the routing you view as serving the areas where people live?

the more i look at it the more i feel the need for red at h/h to meet up with purple on wilshire. the 405 line is a no-brainer and i may be getting way ahead of myself but the next logical step would be an extension to lax down sepulveda. the system would be incomplete without either of those, even with subway to the sea. i envision the westwood/ucla or VA station (whichever the 405 lines stops at) to rival union station as a major transfer hub for the westside, and renewed interest put into the intensive commerical development of the vast VA grounds

one can only dream.

All correct, except no chance of developing the VA.

But instead of Pink, 405 and the VA mega-station, we are building useless poky trains to Azusa and along empty parking lots in the South Bay. That's why I keep repeating this and keep hoping that Purple gets done before the funds really run out.

But instead of Pink, 405 and the VA mega-station, we are building useless poky trains to Azusa and along empty parking lots in the South Bay. That's why I keep repeating this and keep hoping that Purple gets done before the funds really run out.

[DEVIL'S ADVOCATE]You have to remember though that people in Azusa and the South Bay are paying Measure R taxes, and were involved in the supermajority that passed it. Don't they deserve to benefit as much as anyone else? If you don't throw them a bone, will they vote for a Measure R extension or a Measure R II?[/DEVIL'S ADVOCATE]

[DEVIL'S ADVOCATE]You have to remember though that people in Azusa and the South Bay are paying Measure R taxes, and were involved in the supermajority that passed it. Don't they deserve to benefit as much as anyone else? If you don't throw them a bone, will they vote for a Measure R extension or a Measure R II?[/DEVIL'S ADVOCATE]

I agree that there is politics involved. But if you insist on dancing with the devil, don't be surprised that people point it out over and over.

But I doubt that anyone in South Bay or Azusa wants a poky train to nowhere through their city. Better repaired roads, local bus service, cleaner streets, less crime, better schools: yes. But a lightrail to DT LA and mid-Wilshire, no.

But instead of Pink, 405 and the VA mega-station, we are building useless poky trains to Azusa and along empty parking lots in the South Bay. That's why I keep repeating this and keep hoping that Purple gets done before the funds really run out.

what ended up happening to the VA discussion anyway?

and yes, it's unfortunate that pork projects to nowhere are a necessary evil, at least initially, in order to build political intertia for future projects in areas that will truly justify them. frustrating but it's our fault for sprawling our way into this suburban hellhole we like to call a global city.

Kind of a weird request, but I am looking for a cool old timey-looking map poster of the Pacific Electric Railway system. AllPosters and Zazzle don't have anything like it. I'd even settle for just a map of greater LA, but I'm looking for that old timey yellow-ish stylized font type map, think something that would be on the wall of an LAPD criminal investigation office in like 1966 (or rather in a movie that would have that ). But the red car system would be perfect. I'm looking for something sizable. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

__________________
Before one surrenders to the hands of destiny one might consider the power of the human spirit and the force that lies in one's own free will.

"A 4-mile extension to the Orange Line busway will open at the end of June, officials announced Tuesday, allowing commuters a one-seat ride from Chatsworth to the Red Line subway station in North Hollywood.

The Orange Line now runs 14 miles west from the North Hollywood station past Reseda Boulevard to Canoga Avenue. The extension goes north from there, mostly along Canoga Avenue, to the Chatsworth station and connections to Metrolink and Amtrak trains..."

"A 4-mile extension to the Orange Line busway will open at the end of June, officials announced Tuesday, allowing commuters a one-seat ride from Chatsworth to the Red Line subway station in North Hollywood.

The Orange Line now runs 14 miles west from the North Hollywood station past Reseda Boulevard to Canoga Avenue. The extension goes north from there, mostly along Canoga Avenue, to the Chatsworth station and connections to Metrolink and Amtrak trains..."

L.A. County’s transit provider, Metro, released the final environmental impact statement for the 8.9-mile Westside Subway project last week, providing the most up-to-date details on a multi-billion-dollar scheme that is expected to enter the construction phase next year. The project received a positive review by the Federal Transit Administration in the Obama Administration’s FY 2013 budget, and it is likely to receive a full-funding grant agreement from Washington later this year. Local revenue sources generated by taxes authorized over the years by voters will cover the majority of the project’s cost.

- But questions about the project’s completion timeline remain unanswered: Will L.A. have to rely on conventional sources of financing, or be able to take advantage of federally-backed loans to speed construction? In addition, the project’s specific plans for station construction suggest that there are opportunities to improve station layout and do more to develop land around certain stops. Many of the rail expansion projects being built in the United States today serve corridors with rather limited existing bus service — there are few people who currently take the bus from downtown Washington to Tyson’s Corner or Dulles Airport, for instance, but a huge Metro extension is currently being built to connect the three, fundamentally to build a new market of transit riders.

- L.A.’s westside, on the other hand, already has a very large base of transit users, and most of them are concentrated on the Wilshire Boulevard Corridor, which runs from downtown, through Beverly Hills, the Century City business district, and UCLA, before reaching Santa Monica. The three intermediary areas together contain about 150,000 jobs — and most of them are concentrated within a quarter mile of the street. The city’s famed congestion, especially severe in this area, has attracted people to transit: The local and express bus routes along the line — the 20 and 720 — carry about 60,000 daily riders.

Kind of a weird request, but I am looking for a cool old timey-looking map poster of the Pacific Electric Railway system. AllPosters and Zazzle don't have anything like it. I'd even settle for just a map of greater LA, but I'm looking for that old timey yellow-ish stylized font type map, think something that would be on the wall of an LAPD criminal investigation office in like 1966 (or rather in a movie that would have that ). But the red car system would be perfect. I'm looking for something sizable. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Is this along the lines of what you're looking for? It's from 1906 -- very cool-looking map either way. You might want to check out the UT source site, too; they appear to have quite a few historical maps.

It's costly, but Los Angeles is getting its rail mojo back (Sacramento Bee)

It's costly, but Los Angeles is getting its rail mojo back

Sacramento Bee
May. 27, 2012
By Herbert Sample

Image courtesy of the Sacramento Bee.

"LOS ANGELES – It took more than a half-century, but this megalopolis that long ago turned its back on cheap street trolleys like the Red Car in favor of car-choked concrete superhighways is finally getting its rail mojo back.

Los Angeles has expanded its rail transit service over the past 22 years from a single light-rail corridor to Long Beach to its current 106-mile web of light-rail lines, subways and a dedicated busway that attracts 351,000 riders each weekday.

The cost has been substantial: Nearly $9 billion has been spent so far on those projects, and more will be ponied up for new ones if Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other rail enthusiasts have their way. It's clear to them, at least, that the world's car capital is turning from an individualistic to a more communal means of getting around..."